Bumping Survival Guide
 

Interesting article from the Best Fares site. I learned a thing or two.
http://www.bestfares.com/travel_cent...oryID=10044700

Good article.

One omission is - "Double Dip if rerouted through another carrier". On United, fill out a form to get mileage credit for the flight. Also get miles on the other carrier's flight.

I like United's vouchers, because one can use them to get a flight which earns miles. BTW - this was an ok year for me, I netted $900 in vouchers over 3 bumps. I just used one for a last minute Christmas week travel - the fare was $363 ($350 in vouchers and $13 charged to Diners Club) and I am getting about 9K in miles including PE bonus and booking with United connection on PC to get the 250 mile bonus per segment (and more miles if they give me the additional 3K bonus for the first online booking). I almost ended up getting a $300 voucher on the trip because they downsized from the original plane, but it turned out they did not need any volunteers (the article says that no compensation need be paid in this situation, but this was clearly not so in my case). On United, I have not had a problem combining vouchers from two different bumps, and using them in conjunction with coupons.

For this trip, I also tried a Priceline bid of $230 plus taxes plus $5 fee (though to a different airport - which is not served by United) which was rejected. I did not like that they waited several hours (not the one hour they claim) before rejecting my bid. Also I do not like the way Priceline does not include taxes and their fees in the bid (Expedia does that).

I also tried getting a FF ticket through Delta, but they did not have the dates I wanted and one of the legs was a 3 segment roundabout journey.

I know this has nothing to do with the purpose of this thread, but I can't let a Priceline complaint go by without a comment http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Several days ago, Priceline was experiencing serious delays in responding to bids. Numerous complaints were posted to the Yahoo Club I host to discuss Priceline/Expedia bidding at http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/pricelinedeals It seems that this problem was limited to one 24 hour period. You, unfortunately, must have hit that period.

As to the bid amount not including taxes and airport fees, I agree that's a shortfall of Priceline's product, as the majority of those who use Priceline likely have no idea how much these fees amount to (not us FTs, of course).

I was recently interviewed by a major national newspaper regarding the pros and cons of Priceline's product for airfares vs. Expedia's Flight Price Matcher. To me, Expedia is at a definite disadvantage from the consumer perspective as they allow only one bid per routing within a 7 day period. Priceline, on the other hand, allows you to re-bid as many times as you want if you just change your e-mail address. Of course, this isn't stated at their site, but it's a known loophole by everyone who participates in the Yahoo Club. Just today, in fact, someone posted to the Club that they were bidding on SFO-HNL, starting at $170, and re-bidding as many times as it took at $10 increments until their $270 bid was accepted. Non-stop routing on AA with great travel times. Same flights purchased anywhere else...$452.

Not anymore. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

What's sad is that Airlines aren't legally bound to make accomodations or protect you on other carriers when their own aircraft can't operate due to mechanicals, weather, etc. Based on the experience of 2 families members being delayed 2 days to/from SEA due to the fog here in SEA, I have lost a lot of faith in Horizon Air. They messed up big time. Luckily, I flew Delta, and was delayed 10 minutes when I left SEA.

Dont' you think it's asking a bit much for an airline to be responsible for fog?

Well, yes and no. If is so bad that no one is flying, then, of course, who can blame the airlines? And we do all want to be safe! However, sometimes it depends on the equipment the airline is flying. I had that experience in LAX where my AirCal flight was grounded and UAL, and others, were flying. I finally got flown out to a nearby airport and bused to my destination. I was so incredibly late that a friend who had driven LAX to SFO beat me! And AirCal would not tell anyone the real reason the flights were being cancelled. BAD NEWS - but gone now...

JefferyT...fog is not uniform...like any weather problem. Flights won't be "equally" screwed up. AS/QX are based in SEA...Delta is not. A friend of mine flew in and out of SEA and PDX on Alaska (Horizon going back) during very foggy days, and he departed on-time and arrived 10 minutes early in both cases. AS pioneered HUDs and other fog fighting technology on their aircraft.

What is unfortunate is that SEA is built right in a valley, and is prime fog "collection" area.

[This message has been edited by West Coast Flyer (edited 12-31-1999).]